A COMMENTARIE VPON THE BOOKE OF THE PROVERBES OF SALOMON Published for the edification of the Church of God The words of the wise are as goads and as nailes fastened they are the chiefe of choise deliuered by one shepheard Ecclesiastes 12.13 DEVS IMPERAT ASTRIS AT LONDON Printed by Richard Field for Robert Dexter dwelling in Pauls church-yard at the signe of the Brasen serpent 1592. TO THE RIGHT NOBLE LORD THE LORD EDWARD EARLE of Bedford grace mercie and peace from God the Father and from our Lord Iesus Christ AMONG sundrie meanes and helps of furthering of the Gospell of Christ Iesus right noble Earle vvhereby since the time of the blessed Apostles much good hath bin done to the Church of God the vvriting and printing of godly treatises hath bene one of the chiefest For as hereby not onely ancient heresies of all sorts haue long ago bin confuted and laid in the dust but in later times the nevve damnable doctrines of the Antichrist of Rome conuinced and quite in a maner ouerthrovvn so not only the principall points of true religion haue excellently bene handled and generallie made knovvn but manie obscure and hard places of the sacred Scripture illightened and vnfolded For this cause being desirous to employ my poore talent to the greatest aduantage that I can and to vse the best meanes I am able of doing good I thought good to bestovve my labour and leisure in furthering of the Church of God by inke and paper and to vvrite a commētarie on some part of Canonicall Scripture and namely on this excellent booke of the Prouerbes The causes vvhy I rather chose to handle interpret this booke then any of the other as they vvere verie manie so among the rest these vvere the chiefest to vvit that the morall sentences therein contained are most fit to be considered in these carnall times that they are the verie keyes of knovvledge and rules of all righteousnesse that sometimes I had publikely read and expounded them all and finally that they are peerelesse pearles meet to be presented vnto such persons of high degree as your Lordship is There is no parcell of the vvrittē vvord but you may receiue exceeding frute thereby if it please your Lordship to looke thereinto so that if you take anie part of the Scripture to reade or to exercise your selfe in you can not take amisse as vve are vvont to say The sacred histories contained in the fiue bookes of Moses and in the bookes of Iosua Iudges Ruth Samuell Kings Chronicles Ezra Nehemia Hester vvhereunto the Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles are to be added vvill tell you things past and done manie yeares ago The prophesies among vvhich the Reuelation of S. Iohn is to be numbred and doth indeed excell vvill shevve you vvhat things are to come to passe hereafter and vvere after the vttering of them to be accomplished in their times Ecclesiastes or the booke of the Preacher vvill admonish you of the vanitie of the vvorld a point verie needfull as for all mortall vvights so especially for noble personages to consider In the Epistles of S. Paule Iames Peter Iohn and Iude you may see and heare vvhat the Lord saith to the Churches and vvhat duties he requireth at the hāds of all Christians By the Psalmes of Dauid and the song of songs you may be taught stirred vp to pray and sing inasmuch as the mones and grones of the Prophets in the one are registred euerie vvhere and the voice as it vvere of the bridegrome and the bride resounded in the other To conclude the lamentation of the Prophete Ieremie vvhich Gregorie Nazianzen neuer read but the tears did trickle dovvn his cheeks vvil moue you to mourne for the afflictiōs of Sion and dravve you to performe that dutie vvhereunto the Apostle exhorteth vvhen he vvilleth vs to vveepe vvith those vvho vveepe Euen as then the busie bee vvhen she flieth into some faire and pleasant garden and lighteth sometimes here and sometimes there as it falleth out sucketh out some svveetnesse out of euerie floure and herbe vvhereon she sitteth so your Lordship looking into the volume of the sacred Scripture and reading sometimes this parcell thereof sometimes that shall receiue by euerie booke therein such comfort and profit as vvill cause you to preferre the same before the hony and the honie combe But if there be anie part of the vvord of God among the rest vvhich may be called a garland of heauenly flovvers or out of vvhich your Lordship may reape most precious frute it is this vvorthie booke of Salomons Prouerbs For herein as it vvere in a cristall glasse you shall see the nature of God the maners of men the comely countenance of vertue the vglie shape of vice the image of the true church the state of the vvhole vvorld Hovve manie and hovv notable things are herein spoken of Gods Predestination prouidence iustice vvisedome and mercie Hovv diuinely are the natures the offices and the vvorkes of Iesus Christ herein described Hovv liuely are adulterers drunkards sluggards misers proud vvrathfull foolish and enuious persons herein painted out as it vvere in their colours On the contrarie side hovv excellently are the properties and revvards of the faithfull the iust the meeke the thriftie the liberall and the vvise declaclared and pictured as it vvere in the parables of this booke To conclude hovve notably is the vse of lots the force of gifts the povver of affections and the disposition of sundrie brutish creatures therein expressed So many points of great importance and of singular frute being comprehended in this one litle booke of Salomons Prouerbes you can not most noble Earle better bestovv your labour then in meditating therein both night and day and in binding the sentences thereof as it vvere frontlets before your eyes Novv to the end that the meaning of these diuine sayings may be made manifest vnto you first and so to other into vvhose hāds this small treatise shall come I haue translated the text as faithfully as I could looking into the translatiōs of the best writers both old and nevve but especially into the Hebrue copie so farre foorth as my poore talent did enable me and my leisure suffer Moreouer to the same intent and purpose I haue gathered into mine exposition the pith and marrovv onely of all those obseruations vvhich either I had by me of mine ovvne or receiued from other by vvhose conference or vvriting I vvas helped Finally that as much light might be giuen to these sacred Prouerbs as vvel could be for the time by me in the margent I haue referred the reader to the rootes of diuerse parables pointed to sundrie examples noted here and there some reasons of the translation and quoted for proofe or declaration infinite places of Scripture All the vvhich paines notvvithstanding I confesse and acknowvledge that I am farre from handling of manie points exactly vvhich fault my distractions and encumbrances about other necessarie affaires may
excuse the vvhich vvere so great as that euen I could not be present to lend anie help to my poore booke vvhen it vvas vnder the presse for the vvhich cause I request your Lordship and the curteous reader to pardon the escapes of the print and to correct them according to the direction of the printer aftervvard set dovvne But it may be there vvill be some vnto vvhom this my simple commentarie vvill seeme scant large and full inough but too briefe and too much contracted I ansvver vnto these that I follovved breuitie of set purpose lest the volume should be too large and too deare and lest I in vvriting or other in reading may be said to loose time And yet neuerthelesse if the length of a treatise be to be iudged not by the number of the vvordes but by the matters therein contained this commentarie is in deed verie long But as concerning large discourses they are fitter for sermons then for vvritings and rather to be vsed by those vvho intend to apply some frutefull instruction then by those vvhose onely drift is to open and cleare hard and darke places of Scripture Neuerthelesse againe to the end that the mislikers of breuitie may haue somevvhat in this commentarie vvhich may like and please their humour I haue somevvhat largely handled the foure last chapters Novv if there shal be any vvho carrying ill vvill or ill minds in them vvill either not be satisfied vvith a reasonable ansvver or seeke to disgrace my labours because they haue an enuious eye and a backbiting tongue I leaue them as vnreasonable and vncharitable men to their crooked vvayes Against such cauillers and carpers your Lordships fauour and acceptation of my booke may be no small defence vnto vvhom I haue dedicated it not onely for that intent but for diuerse other as namely to testifie my thākfulnesse for that honorable curtesie and fauour vvhich I haue found both at your Lordships hands and in the eyes of the tvvo choise Ladies your Aunts the Countesses of VVarvvick and of Cumberland And againe in these your young and tender years to direct and guide you the best I can in the vvay vvherein you are to vvalke In deed if you shall receiue this booke onely as a nosegay reioycing in it for a day and then vsing it no more you can reape no frute at all in a maner thereby But if you shall frō time to time addresse your selfe thereby as it vvere by a looking glasse it vvill do you more good then can be spoken For as there is no vice from vvhich it vvill not dissvvade you so there is no vertue or praise vvhereunto it vvill not moue you VVhen you shall sit at a table richly furnished it vvill aduise you to consider diligently vvhat is set before you Pro. 23.1 VVhen you shall be at your pleasant recreation it vvil admonish you not to be drovvned therein nor to loue it aboue measure Pro. 21.1 VVhē your reuenues and riches shall come in abound it vvill put you in minde to honour God vvith your substance Pro. 3.9 VVhē it shall please the Lord to lay some crosse vpon you it vvil exhort you not to refuse the chasticement of the Lord. Pro 3.11 VVhen you shall go about to open your lips to speake of anie matter it vvill teach you that vaine talke is not seemely in an excellent man or noble person Pro. 17.7 VVhen you shall see the innocent oppressed or the poore anie vvay vvronged it vvill stirre you vp to deliuer them that are vniustly pursued Pro. 24.11 and to open your mouth in the cause of all the children of destruction To conclude for it vvould be infinite thus to folovv all the particulars vvhen you shall haue occasion to chuse any seruants into your Honorable familie it vvill direct you to admit and accept those vvhose lips are iust Pro. 16.12.13 and vvho speake vpright things and to reiect those vvho are vvorkers of iniquitie VVherefore seeing this booke of the Prouerbs of Salomon is able to instruct you in euerie good vvay to make your Lordship fit to performe euerie good vvorke Accept it right noble Earle and meditate therein continually Stories record that Darius propounded great revvardes vnto those vvho could find out vvittie poesies that Alexander vvould neuer sleepe vvithout Homer vnder his pillovv that Plinie vvould haue all men alvvayes carrie Tullies Offices in their hands and that Sophrons book vvas found vnder the head of Plato vvhen he vvas dead If these Princes and Philosophers so esteemed humane and heathenish vvritings hovv deare and neare should these diuine sentences and parables of Salomō be vnto your Lordship But no vvhit doubting either that you vvill exercise your selfe in the sacred Prouerbes of that renovvned king or that you vvill fauourably accept my commentary on the same together vvith my litle Catechisme as an handmaid adioyned thereunto I commit your Lordship to the blessing and protection of the Almightie beseeching him that as he hath cast vpon you exceeding great honor and adorned you vvith nobilitie as vvith a golden chain so he vvold in suh sort enrich and sanctifie you vvith the giftes and graces of his spirit as that you may become and long continue an ornamēt of the Gospel a piller of the Church a pearle of the common vvealth and an inheritor of the kingdome of heauen Your Lordships most humble and heartie vvelvvisher in the Lord Iesus P. M. A COMMENTARIE VPON THE WHOLE BOOKE OF THE PROVERBES THE I. CHAPTER Verse 1. The prouerbes of Salomon the sonne of Dauid king of Israell TWo things are contained in this first verse the one the matter of this whole booke in this worde Prouerbes the other the author therof in these titles of Salomon the sonne of Dauid king of Israell Prouerbes are certaine generall short and pithie sayings vsed or to be vsed in euery mans mouth Albeit sundry parables are to be found in the writings of the Prophets the Euangelists and the Apostles yet this booke is onely in the Scripture intituled by the name of Prouerbes because it alone powreth out continuall parables without intermission and without mixture of stories or prayers or other matters therewithall Now in the second place Salomon is affirmed to haue bene the author of this booke or vtterer of these Prouerbes who was a peaceable Prince aunswering to his name which signifieth peaceable the which the Lord him selfe therefore gaue him 1. Chro. 22.12 because he purposed to graunt peace in his dayes Albeit there is no mention of any other Salomon sauing this one in the Scripture yet some other might afterward be called by this name for which cause as wel to distinguish this our Salomon frō all other Salomons as to shew for honors sake that he had a most godly man to his father it is futhermore sayd of him that he was the sonne of Dauid In the last place he is affirmed to haue bene king
that they shall fall into euill But he which trusteth in the Lord is placed on high The person which is secure of the good will of God which constantly suffereth afflictions and valiantly as a fouldier of Christ proceedeth in well doing Psal 92. shall be safe and sure vnder the Lords defence in as much as he will be as a rocke as a tower and as a castle vnto him For first nothing shall touch such a one to do him hurt Secondly the Lord euen in this world will oftentimes preserue him as may appeare in the 11. Chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrewes Last of all his soule after death shal mount vp to heauen as to a fenced citie David Daniell and Paul may be witnesses of the truth of this doctrine 27 Many do seeke the face of the ruler but * Amans euerie mans iudgement is from the Lord. Preposterous suing for fauour is here condemned as before inordinate feare was reproued To seeke for redresse vnto rulers or to sue for fauour at their hands is not vnlawfull But first we must put vp our supplications into the court of heauen So did Hester and prospered but the rulers of Israell taking a contrary course going first to Pharaoh had ill successe Let vs then take heede that we put not our trust in Princes for they are deceiptfull Againe their hearts are in Gods hand finally they haue no power but that which is giuen them from aboue 27 The wicked man is an abhomination to the tust and who is vpright in way is an abhomination to the * Of iniquitis wicked man The effectes of wickednesse and of righteosnesse on the cōtrary side are herein noted The wicked man is an abhomination to the iust that is the iust abhorre the vngodly iustly and according to their desertes For in deede what fellowship is there betweene righteousnesse and vnrighteousnesse or the seede of the woman and the seede of the Serpent The godly then must needs hate the wicked yea they cannot but abhorre them euen as the dung of the earth which mē remoue farre from their senses and habitatiōs Now he who is vpright in way is an abhomination to the wicked man also on the contrary side that is the godly or righteous person is vniustly hated by reason of the euill disposition of the vngodly For otherwise euen the most wicked haue cause inough giuen them by the righteous to loue them But they hate the iust first because their workes are good secondly because they will not runne to the same excesse of riot with them thirdly because they reproue their sinnes and last of all because they are not of this world Indeede the godly loue the wicked as they are gods creatures but in regard of their sinnes they hate them yet in such sort as the Phisition doth hate the disease and not the sicke person When the wicked man is conuerted there wil be an agreement betweene him and the righteous but vntil that time in as much as they are of contrary dispositions and courses there can be no true loue betweene them Of the truth of this doctrine Cain and Abell I saac and I smaell David and Saul Christ and the Iewes may be witnesses THE XXX CHAPTER 1 A gathering together of the wordes of Agur the sonne of Iaketh The saying of that man concerning Ithiell concerning Ithiel I say and Vcall 2 Surely I haue bene brutish since I haue bene a man neither is there the vnderstanding of a man in me 3 Neither haue I learned wisedome or knowen the knowledge of holy things 4 Who can ascend vp to heauen or descēd who can gather the wind in his fists who can bind the waters in his cloke who can establish any bounds of the earth what is his name and what is his sonnes name if thou canst tell 5 The whole word of God is most perfectly purified he is a backler to those who betake them selues to him 6 Adde not to his wordes that he reproue thee not and thou become a lyer IN these verses we are to obserue first the title secondly sundry instructions In the title we are to note the author of the parables following the authoritie of them the first meanes of publishing them finally a certaine person or persons concerning them or whom they concerne The author of them was Agur the sonne of Iaketh whose name elsewhere in the Scripture is not recorded but by his prouerbes it appeareth that he was a man indued with rare and excellent knowledge Some thinke that Salomon is here called Agur but it appeareth that they are deceiued seeing Agur is here plainly affirmed to haue bene the sonne of Iaketh but it is manifest that Salomon was the son of Dauid Moreouer seeing the author of these sētences sheweth in the 7. verse that he made a petitiō neither to haue much riches nor to be extremelie poore it is euident that he was not Salomon whom God called to a kingdome and greatly enriched with all store of substance Neuerthelesse albeit Agur was not Salomon yet the spirit which was in Salomon was in him yea the same gift of speaking by darke sayings being bestowed on him made him in the same kinde with Salomon to be profitable vnto the Church of God As for the authoritie of this booke it may be gathered hence that it is termed an abstract of Agurs sentences or as the Hebrew word doth also signifie aprophesie For herein thus much is insinuated that the spirit of God allowed of them first inspiring Agur secōdly mouing the penners of this treatise to set thē down in that order wherein now we haue thē As touching the meanes of publishing these sentences this was done by Agur him selfe and at the first not by writing but by word of mouth For it is not said the writings which he pēned but the words which that excellent man spake Euen as then Salomon vpon occasions vttered parables which afterward were written so did Agur. Finally as concerning the persons here named I thiell V call whether these wordes are the names of the Scribes by whom this treatise was copied or whether the friends of Agur were so called to whom these sayings were vttered or whether the sonne of God is noted by these titles of whom chiefly the instructions following entreat or whether Agur speaking of the father of lights saith by I thiell that is God with me and Vcall or Ve-ucall I shal be able after which sort Paule speaketh of the grace of God with him and saith that he is able to do all things through Christ who maketh him strong the matter is not great and it commeth all to one purpose for Paule planteth and Apollos watereth but God giueth the increase Paule is nothing and Apollos is nothing but God is all in all Let vs learne not so much curiously to inquire after as wisely to profit by the names and helpes of excellent persons albeit not throughly knowen vnto vs. This